Comer  of  &sta 


&itUs  c 


I.  ^ India’s  Ready  Harvest” 

u Methodism  at  the  Comer  of  Asia  ” 

||';  "The  Aroused  Giant  of  the  Far  East” 
IV.  “ Nippon  and  Chosen  ” 


1907 


/ 


MALAY  PENINSULA 

Begun  at  Singapore  in  1885,  by  Drs.  Tho- 
burn  and  Oldham,  both  now  bishops,  the  Malay- 
sia Mission  at  present  has  three  districts,  of  which 
the  Singapore  district  includes  the  work  in  Bor- 
neo, Java,  and  Sumatra. 


T 


The  educational  opportunity  in  the  Straits 
Settlements  and  in  the  Malay  States  of  the 
Peninsula,  is  amazing.  The  government  subsi- 
dizes any  school  that  will  do  acceptable  work  in 
suitable  premises.  Thus  great  schools  can  be 
carried  on  without  expense  to  the  Missionary  So- 
ciety. The  missionaries  in  these  English-teaching 
schools  have  admirable  opportunities  for  Chris- 
tian work  among  the  boys,  of  whom  about  3,000 
are  enrolled.  These  boys  scatter  all  over  South- 
eastern Asia  and  the  East  Indies,  and  prepare 
the  way  for  future  advances.  Calls  are  coming 
from  many  places  to  follow  up  the  work.  The 
enrollment  in  the  girls’  school  approaches  1 ,000. 


The  Tamil  and  Chinese  churches  are  rarely 
large,  because  of  the  migratory  character  of  the 
people,  it  being  estimated  that  twenty  per  cent 
of  the  membership  is  lost  by  removal  each  year. 
Those  migrating  oftentimes  start  churches  in  new 
communities,  and  then  send  for  pastors  or 
teachers. 

Probably  nowhere  on  earth  does  diversity  of 
race  and  speech  present  such  obstacles  to  mis- 
sionary progress.  The  missionaries,  however,  are 
seizing  all  strategic  points,  and  are  learning  the 
languages.  The  population  is  gradually  becoming 
more  stable.  Practically  every  station  shows  ad- 
vance in  membership.  The  mission  press  at 
Singapore  sends  out  leaflets,  tracts,  periodicals, 
and  Scripture  portions  in  various  languages. 


BORNEO 

Borneo  is  a9  large  as  six  New  York  States  with 
an  Ohio  to  spare.  The  great  island  is  peopled 
principally  by  Malays,  Dyaks  and  Chinese. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  a well- 
developed  field  in  Sarawak,  where  the  work 
among  the  Chinese  colonists  has  had  a romantic 
beginning  and  a most  successful  development. 
Believing  that  Christian  colonists  were  of  most 
value  in  developing  the  country,  the  Rajah  loaned 
a large  sum  of  money  to  bring  down  from  China 
a colony  of  Chinese  Christians.  About  600  of 
these  were  Methodists  and  must  be  cared  for  by 
the  Malaysia  Conference.  Industrial  work  has 
been  opened  here  by  the  setting  out  of  rubber 
plants,  cocoanut  trees,  and  pepper  gardens. 

At  two  different  places  in  West  Borneo  work 
was  started  through  native  efforts,  the  mission- 
aries being  sent  for  to  organize  activities  already 
under  way.  At  one  of  these  places  the  work  was 
opened  by  a Malaysian  convert,  a doctor  who 
was  anxious  to  extend  the  borders  of  the  King- 
dom. He  gathered  a company  of  over  fifty 
believers,  and  the  presiding  elder  in  1902  went 
over  and  organized  them  into  a Methodist 
Church.  At  the  other  point  the  merchants  raised 
$7,000  for  a church  and  school  and  guarantee 
the  salary  of  a native  preacher  and  teacher. 

Among  the  Dyaks  of  Borneo  Christianity  is 
causing  the  disappearance  of  slavery,  bondage, 
headhunting,  cannibalism,  human  sacrifices,  bar- 
baric punishments,  feasts,  immorality,  sorcery, 
drunkenness,  and  gambling,  even  in  places  where 
the  government  has  been  unable  to  do  away  with 
any  of  these  evils. 


JAVA  AND  SUMATRA 

Java,  one  of  the  Dutch  East  Indies,  comprises 
a territory  a little  larger  than  that  of  the  state  of 
New  York,  and  has  a population  of  35,000,000 
people.  The  inhabitants  include  Javanese,  Sun- 
danese,  Chinese  and  others,  besides  Europeans, 
mostly  Dutch.  Methodist  work  was  begun  in 
1905  under  circumstances  little  less  than  roman- 
tic. The  missionary  who  opened  the  work,  when 
a student  in  the  United  States,  had  been  one  of 
the  earliest  and  most  aggressive  promoters  of  the 
missionary  movement  among  the  young  people  of 
Methodism.  After  a number  of  years  spent  as  a 
missionary  in  the  Malay  Peninsula,  he  felt  very 
strongly  drawn  toward  Java,  and  sought  the 
opportunity  to  extend  Methodist  activities  to  that 
great  island.  It  was  the  consensus  of  opinion 
among  the  Malaysia  missionaries  that  openings 
could  be  found  for  work  in  Java  only  after  long 
and  tedious  siege  work.  Mr.  Denyes  was  finally 
permitted,  however,  to  go  to  Java  to  make  the 
start.  Within  six  months  after  his  arrival  in  the 
island  two  churches  had  been  organized,  and  be- 
ginnings had  been  made  at  a number  of  other 
places. 

Sumatra  is  almost  four  times  as  large  as  New 
York  State,  and  has  a population  of  2,500,000. 
A beginning  of  Methodist  activities  was  made  in 
1905.  This  work  was  brought  to  us  through  a 
non-Christian  Chinaman  who  had  opened  a 
school  in  Medan,  and  wishing  to  attend  to  other 
business  for  a few  months,  he  offered  it  to  our 
missionary  at  Penang.  We  took  the  school, 
and,  as  a result,  we  have  an  organized  church, 
have  had  several  baptisms,  and  have  won  the 
confidence  of  the  community.  All  this  without 
spending  a dollar  of  missionary  money,  as  the 
school  pays  all  the  expenses. 


THE  PHILIPPINES 

In  the  fall  of  1906  this  was  the  situation  in 
the  provinces  or  parts  of  Luzon  assigned  by  the 
Evangelical  Union  of  the  Philippine  Islands  to 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church: 

Cagayan  Valley,  250,000  people,  no  mission- 
ary, but  already  200  members,  and  the  most 
urgent  calls  from  all  parts.  Ilocos  Sur,  1 00 
miles  long,  has  150,000  people,  1,000  mem- 
bers, one  missionary  family.  Pangasinan,  450,- 
000  people,  4,263  members,  one  missionary 
family.  Tarlac,  1 35,000  people,  1,546  mem- 
bers, one  missionary  family.  Pampanga,  225,- 
000  people,  1 ,925  members,  one  missionary 
family.  Bulacan  and  Nueva  Ecija,  200,000 
people,  2,386  members,  one  missionary  family. 
Manila  and  surrounding  districts,  500,000  peo- 
ple, two  missionaries  who  must  do  the  work  of 
presiding  elder,  pastor,  editor,  and  publishing 
agent. 

From  mountain  valleys  ana  distant  villages 
committees  and  companies  come  to  the  mission- 
aries asking  for  teachers  and  preachers,  and  the 
missionaries  can  only  say  that  time  and  strength 
can  endure  no  more.  A dozen  missionaries 
gathered  in  the  last  Annual  Conference.  By  this 
group  is  done  the  work  of  evangelization,  organ- 
ization, training  and  reproving,  for  there  are  none 
others  to  translate  Christian  literature,  teach  and 
locate  and  supervise  and  train  and  baptize  and 
marry  and  bury,  but  this  handful  of  men  who 
throw  themselves  into  the  task  with  utter  abandon. 

The  membership  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  six  years  after  beginning  work  in  the  is- 
lands is  1 7,000.  More  missionaries  and  far 
better  property  equipment  are  greatly  needed  if 
the  urgent  calls  and  unprecedented  opportunities 
are  to  be  met. 


THE  OUTLOOK 
In  Malaysia 

The  problem  is  the  regeneration  of  at  least 
40,000,000  people  ranging  in  civilization  all  the 
way  from  the  barbarous  headhunters  to  the  cul- 
tured but  godless  European  merchant.  The  three 
great  difficulties  are:  ( 1 ) the  great  number  of  lan- 
guages (more  than  fifty  languages  are  spoken  on 
the  streets  of  Singapore);  (2)  the  various  false 
religions,  from  the  most  primitive  fetich  worship 
to  the  complex  systems  of  India  and  China;  (3) 
the  trying  climate. 

In  the  Philippines 

Twenty-five  recruits  are  needed  at  once  from 
home,  and  temporary  support  for  at  least  five 
Filipino  evangelists.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  dol- 
lars will  support  one  of  these  Filipinos  a year. 

The  influence  of  a large  church  building,  such 
as  we  need  in  Manila,  will  reach  to  the  farthest 
point  of  our  work,  as  people  from  all  the  prov- 
inces visit  Manila  and  receive  their  impressions 
of  Protestantism  from  what  they  see  here.  There 
is  also  urgent  need  of  added  means  for  the  train- 
ing of  an  indigenous  ministry.  $20,000  more 
is  needed  for  the  Filipino  Church;  $20,000 
for  missionary  homes;  $10,000  toward  the 
American  Church  in  Manila ; and  $ 1 0,000  to 
$1  5,000  for  a Bible  Training  School. 

Published  by  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  First  edition  of 
50,000  printed  in  January,  1907;  second  edition 
of  50,000  orinted  in  March,  1907. 

Sample  copies  free.  Price  of  this  leaflet,  40 
cents  per  100;  100  of  each  of  the  series,  $1.50. 
Orders  should  be  sent  to  the  Open  Door  Com- 
mission, 150  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York,  N.  Y. 


